Been thinking of upgrading from my 5100 which I bought as a refurb about 2 years ago. While I love the 5100 for it's lightness and the convenience of the flip out screen, I get frustrated with it lately for a few different reasons, some are equipment limitations but others may just be my lack of skill.

Not enough focus points has been the biggest issue lately - I feel that I am having to compose my shots to fit the focus points then crop later. I don't like to use the focus/recompose method as I always seem to end up with missed focus when I do that. I mostly shoot landscapes and vacation type pics but I've lately been taking some action photos now that my daughter is cheerleading and I haven't had a lot of success with nailing focus on those (this is likely my lack of skill so not sure an upgrade on the body will help with this but it sure won't hurt). I got some good advice here on my settings for that and my shots improved but they are still not what I would consider great. I would like a few more MPs for cropping purposes and when printing and a bigger LCD screen would be great for me as my eyesight without my reading glasses is not great but I don't like to wear the glasses when shooting because they get in my way.

Strictly sticking to DX and most likely buying a refurb. Here are my current options (all refurbs are from Cameta and come with a 1 year warranty and all are in a comfortable price range for me). These seem to all be a big jump in technology from the 5100:

5300 - refurb $469 this was my immediate thought to upgrade to because I could keep the flip out screen and I'm familiar with the controls but, it's already been surpassed by the 5500

5500 - refurb $539 I don't care about touch screen and don't see this as a huge improvement over the 5300 but it's a newer model for only a $70 price difference

7100 - refurb $579 is a really good value and has many key features that the 5000 series does not. Maybe not features that I need right now but ones that I will grow into needing I think.

7200 - refurb $950, from reading reviews and previous similar posts, it seems that the improvements from the 7100 to the 7200 are not worth the $370 difference in price but there is an argument for buying the newest available model...

Leaning toward the 7100 refurb but wanted some input first. Any good arguments for going with the newer 7200 or 5500? Are these all similar enough in IQ and focus system that I should reconsider the cheapest option and go with the 5300 and put the extra $ toward a needed long range lens? Should I wait and see if the 7200 has some price cuts around Black Friday? Would refurb prices drop accordingly?

Thanks for your thoughts. Please no comments about pixel density at the center of the shot.

I went from 5100 to 7100. I keep the 5100 as a backup. The 7100's layout is so convenient that I struggle every time I go back to the 5100 because everything on it is menu based. Changing settings on the fly with the 7 series is a breeze.

Top Poster Of Month

I would go with the refurb 7100 I think, for the price. Bigger, better viewfinder with a full-fledged pentaprism, which "I" think is really helpful for better seeing what the image is before snapping it.

I went from 5100 to 7100. I keep the 5100 as a backup. The 7100's layout is so convenient that I struggle every time I go back to the 5100 because everything on it is menu based. Changing settings on the fly with the 7 series is a breeze.

Click to expand...

The trade in/resale value on the 5100 is small enough that I will probably keep it. I might copy pixmedic and give away my current back up d60 to someone looking for a freebie to get started.

While not the greatest example this was shot @ iso 3200. Its in dark enough conditins as its 1/200 at f2.8, maybe 1/100 at iso 1600 would be better but it gives an idea of the d7100 capability when the iso is pushed. I'd say it's there or thereabouts the same as the d51oo. Point being all these modern nikon crop cameras wont vary much with image quality, function is what you get for your money, the d7100 delivers in spades